Dirty Harry Feeling Not So Lucky

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The Collective taken off the case.

By Micah Seff

The punks over at The Collective must not be feeling lucky today, as word came in that the company was being taken off the previously announced next-gen Dirty Harry game project. The videogame adaptation of the '70s-era Clint Eastwood cop-drama had been in development for a while now, but it seems like things recently slowed to a halt.

The original report from Gamespot stated that The Collective, one of Foundation 9's subsidiaries, laid-off around 30 employees this morning following Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment's revocation of the studio's rights to develop the game. However, a Foundation 9 representative contacted by IGN vehemently denied any mass lay-offs.

A Foundation 9 spokesperson refused to talk numbers, but asserted that this was far from the death knell for The Collective, remarking: "We are making every effort to place everyone affected by this at other Foundation 9 Studios. We have several studios across North America. As long as the employees are willing to relocated, there will be a position for them at Foundation 9."

A Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment representative offered IGN a passionate affirmation that work on the project was still underway, albeit at a new, undisclosed studio. WBIE senior vice president, Samantha Ryan stated: "We are moving forward with the Dirty Harry next generation videogames and will be changing our development plans in keeping with the best interest of the franchise legacy. WBIE is dedicated to creating a game that will bring Clint Eastwood's legendary Detective Harry Callahan character to the interactive space with a new story and great gameplay."

Aside from the Dirty Harry project, The Collective was hard at work on the next-gen vampire slayfest, Harker, as well as another unnanounced next-gen title. These games are still in development at The Collective, as it was only the Dirty Harry team that was impacted.